


Two Families

by SubtextEquals



Category: Spartacus Series (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 14:38:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3732607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SubtextEquals/pseuds/SubtextEquals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agron and Nasir finally reach the lands east of the Rhine. But when they arrive they soon discover that Agron is not the only one who will be reunited with his family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Families

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: Agron and Nasir make it to Germania. Agron has kin still living with new friends from abroad. Tl;dr — Nasir’s brother is with Agron’s tribe because of reasons. Surprise reunions for the win?

The survivors had split apart little by little. Some sought their futures in Gallia, others headed east. But Agron, Nasir, and a handful of others pressed north. Nasir only had a vague sense of where they were going, as did everyone else save Agron. These were the lands east of the Rhine. It was his home they walked to.

Nasir thought that Agron would be excited. He had spoken many times of his home and Nasir, who could recall little of anything but Rome, had paid attention to every word. But the closer they came to his homeland, the quieter Agron became. The tightening of his jaw was more pronounced. And his nightmares hadn’t eased, as Nasir’s had. They’d only worsened.

As they settled in their tent for yet another night, Agron fumbled with the blanket. Nasir took it from him and covered them both. Agron cast the blanket an annoyed glance, as though it had personally offended him. As long as he didn’t direct the anger at himself for being unable to properly grasp the fabric, Nasir would not complain.

“Two days should see us to my village,” Agron said. “If it is still there.”

Nasir stretched his arm across Agron’s body and pressed his face to his neck. “It may yet be. Do not grieve before you have cause.” He would have liked to give him more reassuring words but they both knew it was possible that Agron’s tribe and family were gone.

Agron did not respond. In that silence, Nasir questioned his words though he didn’t know what else to say. He’d never experienced the fear of returning to his home to find it gone. He had no family of blood, none that he knew. And while he had lost his friends, he knew he couldn’t understand this. But he could still guess what was going through Agron’s mind.

He stroked his cheek and stared up at his lover. “You miss him.”

Agron didn’t ask who. Instead he nodded and brought Nasir closer to him. “He should be by my side. We talked of our return once, before rebellion. If my parents live, how can I tell them that their son…” His voice started to break and he silenced himself.

“They will have you. You will not need to mourn alone longer.”

Agron looked down at him. “I do not.” He pulled Nasir up for a brief kiss before turning him on his side, his back to Agron’s chest, and wrapped his arm around him.

 

They saw the houses first and Agron walked faster. Nasir had to ask him to slow down, casting a meaningful glances at the others, whose legs weren’t nearly as long as Agron’s. When Nasir told him that he could see people there, Agron visibly forced himself to keep his pace steady. But before they reached the village a group of men came out to meet them.

“Agron!” The man was almost as large as who he greeted and his mouth split into a grin. The others with him were just as big but they held back while this one ran to Agron and slapped his back. Nasir could just make out a hurried “ _by the gods, it is you_ ” in German. The following words were spoken too rapidly for him to make out.

Agron laughed in response. “Gebhard.” He slung his arm around him to embrace him. “I thought you fallen in battle.”

“As we thought you.” He looked over at Nasir, then back towards the rest of the group. His face fell but he forced his smile to return as he looked back at Agron. Then he pressed his forehead to Agron’s, only speaking once he pulled back. “Come, your mother will feed me to wild dogs if I do not take you to her.”

“My father?”

Gebhard tensed before he shook his head. “He fell ill last winter. He took to bed and did not awaken.”

Agron had no immediate reaction, not even one of shock. He stood still until he held out his arm to Nasir. He spoke in Latin this time. “Nasir, I would have you meet my mother.”

Nasir slipped his hand through Agron’s and stepped closer to them. He saw a flicker of surprise in Gebhard’s eyes, along with something close to disappointment.

“Someone should see to the others,” Nasir told him.

Agron huffed. “They can break words with others. There are those who know Latin.”

Nasir looked back. His companions had caught up with him. In fact, Sibyl waved with her hands to tell him to go.

On second thought Laeta, who stood beside her, was capable enough of dealing with people. Agron looked at him expectantly so Nasir let himself fall into step with him once Agron pulled him.

Gebhard walked with them as well. “You bring friends,” he spoke to Agron.

“Fucking Romans sold Duro and I into slavery. We rose up against them. My friends are survivors of Spartacus’s rebellion.”

“I have heard of Spartacus but not his fall.”

“We will break words later,” Agron’s voice was clipped.

Gebhard nodded but didn’t press for more. He didn’t ask why Duro was not there either. Instead his eyes fell on Nasir. “Do you speak German?” he asked in the same language.

“I speak some,” Nasir answered.

“What is your name?”

“Nasir.” He noted that Agron observed them both with a wary look.

Then Gebhard spoke another language entirely.

Nasir shook his head. “I do not understand.”

“Ah,” Gebhard started. “I asked if you are Syrian.”

“I am, yet I was enslaved when I was but young child. I do not know language.”

Agron spoke before Gebhard could respond. “How do you know it?”

“There are Syrian traders among us. They come regularly. You may yet meet your kinsmen.”

It would be a lie to say that Nasir wasn’t surprised that there were Syrians so far into the north. But he felt no strong connection to them. He had known Syrians who’d broken their chains and joined Spartacus. He’d never formed a bond with them. Their pasts were too separate.

“I may,” Nasir echoed. But at the moment he was more focused on Agron’s family and the grief that Agron should be displaying. Should but wasn’t.

As expected, Agron wasn’t patient. Finally, he turned to Gebhard. “Does my mother live in same home?”

Gebhard nodded and that was all Agron needed. He let go of Nasir’s hand and walked faster, almost at a run. Nasir didn’t bother trying to keep up. It only took a few moments for Agron to pass the Syrian traders and disappear into one of the homes.

Nasir felt eyes on him and he turned to see those that Gebhard called his kinsmen. They were bundled in clothes that Nasir, dressed only in his armor and cloak, envied. They looked at him with curiosity, especially one whose brow furrowed. Nasir ignored them and followed Agron. Gebhard hung back, giving Nasir one last nod.

Nasir stepped up to the door, which was still ajar. It blocked his view but he heard a woman sobbing inside. He hesitated. Agron wanted him there, he had insisted on it. But this was a private moment between mother and son. Did he have a right to interrupt?

Finally, the recollection of Agron urging him to come made him move. He pushed the door open slowly. He couldn’t properly see Agron’s mother. His lover had mostly blocked her from view, having wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.

“I hoped you were alive,” his mother said. Her voice was thick and hard for Nasir to understand. She didn’t draw back from her son. “Your father--”

“I know.” Agron moved away and his mother, who had to be half a head shorter than him, pressed her hands to his face. “Duro,” Agron continued. “He--”

His broken voice must have said everything because more tears welled in his mother’s eyes and she shook her head. “Not now.” She held her son in her arms again.

Nasir, feeling more and more that he was intruding, took a step back. In the process he backed into the door, which promptly betrayed him by creaking. Agron’s mother looked past her son while Agron turned. Both of them hastily wiped the tears from their cheeks, almost in synchrony. Nasir hoped that his face wasn’t as flushed as it felt.

Agron smiled at him. “Why do you stand in fucking door?” He came to him, slung his arm around his shoulder, and brought him forward. He turned to his mother. “This is Nasir.”

Even after their separation, Agron’s mother must have known him too well as she gave her son an understanding smile. Her eyes went back to Nasir. “I’m Alda. You can also call me mother.”

Agron shook his head and said something Nasir didn’t understand. Probably an affectionate word for mother, judging by the tone.

Alda, embarrassing her son or not, came up to Nasir and hugged him. Nasir gave Agron a startled glance but his lover just grinned in response.

Alda stepped away then reached up and ruffled Agron’s hair, which was a color so very much like her own. “You brought me a son.” There were still tears in her eyes but the smile was genuine.

Agron actually blushed. “Ma.”

Nasir couldn’t help but smile.

 

They stayed for some time in Agron’s home. They were seated, Agron and Nasir on a bed (at his mother’s insistence) and Alda on a chair. Many times Nasir lost track of the conversation as the words flowed quickly between mother and son. Sometimes they smiled, other times their eyes welled with tears again. Once Alda grasped her son’s hands and turned them to see his palms. Nasir knew what they had been speaking of.

Agron finally noticed that Nasir was quiet and made more of an effort to slow his speech. But Nasir still didn’t know what to say.

“How did you meet?” Alda asked.

“Nasir was in first villa we liberated.” Agron reached over and rubbed Nasir’s thigh.

It was not an act Nasir minded in general but there were some differences between being affectionate in front of a rebel army and acting like that in front of your lover’s mother. Agron didn’t seem to mind at least and he even pulled Nasir closer after that.

“He has grown into fine warrior.”

“Owed in part to you,” Nasir said.

“How much time passed before you came to tolerate Agron?” Alda asked with a smirk on her face.

Agron and Nasir glanced at each other, recalling the first conversation they’d shared-- after Agron had urged Spartacus to kill Nasir. They both laughed. It was for the best that they didn’t have time to answer. Laeta opened the door and peered inside.

“Apologies for interruption. Agron, I cannot bring your kinsmen to sense.”

Agron sighed. “I should not have sent woman to--”

Alda lightly smacked Agron’s cheek for that. “Woman suffered nine months of bearing you in womb and hours of childbirth for you.”

Nasir covered his smile at the lecture Alda began. He stood. “I will lend aid while Agron remains occupied.”

Agron slapped his ass before he walked away.

 

Nasir meant to sort out whatever problem Laeta had run into. She explained about determining where their people would stay and how the villagers had expressed fears of feeding them. Complicating matters, none of them fully understood the others’ language. Given the gaps in Nasir’s own knowledge, he doubted that he would do much good before Agron came. But he was waylaid before he could reach the Germans.

The same Syrian who had stared intently at him approached. He had to be at least a decade older than Nasir. As soon as he was close, he began talking to him in the same tongue Gebhard had used to greet him.

Nasir shook his head.

“German?” the man asked.

“Latin.”

The Syrian switched with ease to the language of Rome. “What is your name?”

“Nasir.”

“I am Faizan.” He searched Nasir for a reaction, one he did not receive and continued before Nasir could form a proper response. “You were born in Rome?”

“Syria, yet I hold little memory of land.”

“You were taken into slavery as child?”

Nasir nodded. “I was too young to form proper memory.”

“What of family?”

“Why pose questions?” Nasir asked, wishing to avoid anything that might bring up an unpleasant past.

“I had brother called Nasir. You bear resemblance to my mother. Our parents passed when he was at young age. He was mine to care for but one night, when he was small child, he wandered without my knowledge and never returned.”

Nasir’s eyes narrowed slightly. Before he could respond he heard Agron’s voice.

“Fuck the gods.”

Nasir turned and saw his lover’s gaze dart between him and Faizan.

“You could be fucking twins,” Agron said.

Nasir looked back at Faizan. Was there a resemblance? He hadn’t exactly had many opportunities to look in a mirror and the water always distorted his reflection. But they were almost of a height. Faizan had a few inches on him. Their eyes were similar and they shared the same jaw, the same slim build. When Faizan lowered his hood, Nasir saw similarly colored dark hair about as long as his own.

“Nasir?” Faizan spoke.

Agron wrapped an arm around Nasir, who did not understand why until he realized his knees were buckling.

 

Nasir still couldn’t believe this was his brother he spoke to. Despite Agron’s reluctance, he told him to go ahead and sort out the confusion between the villagers and those who survived the rebellion. That left him to speak to the man who claimed to be his brother.

“You still don’t believe me,” Faizan said after a while of talking.

“It is difficult to believe,” Nasir admitted. “That you should happen to be in Agron’s village at same time of our arrival.”

“The gods moved to reunite us.”

That was something to consider. Nasir did not place much faith in the gods, but sometimes he could feel their hands moving his life. Agron had returned to him, taken down from cross when he easily could have died upon it. And, while his friends had died in battle save for Laeta and Sibyl, he and Agron lived.

“It is possible,” he conceded.

“What proof may I give to convince?”

That was not something easy to answer but Agron saved Nasir from it as he felt a hand upon his shoulder and turned to see his lover.

“Do I interrupt reunion?” Agron smiled.

“Nasir has yet to believe our bond,” Faizan said.

“Nasir are you fucking blind? Look at you both. It’s fucking blessing you stand together.”

Nasir heard what Agron did not say. He had his brother again. Agron did not. He hesitated. Maybe his suspicions were correct and they were not related. And yet there were striking coincidences and the resemblance was clear.

Even if they shared no brotherly bond, did it matter? They would both have in each other something they lost.

At length, he spoke. “What happened to our parents?”

 

According to his brother, their father had been a merchant, as Faizan was now. They hadn’t been the only children. They had two sisters and two brothers. Nasir was the youngest, Faizan the eldest. They’d been happy enough until their father became ill. The sickness passed through most of the family. Faizan had taken Nasir before he could sicken as the rest of their family. He’d been two then. From then on, it was only them, with Faizan barely old enough to continue trading as their father had. He had no choice but to take his young brother with him and when Nasir was five they had been separated.

Faizan had never doubted that Nasir was alive. He hoped that he’d been taken by a family but feared slavery. He had been right to.

He didn’t ask for details about Nasir’s past, not the years he’d spent in slavery at least. He held more interest in Spartacus’s rebellion. Agron had been pulled away at that point when some minor bickering broke out elsewhere. He’d rolled his eyes and placed his hand on Nasir’s shoulder this time instead of slapping his ass.

Faizan’s eyes followed him. “You say he was in counsel with Spartacus?”

“They stood as brothers after Agron lost his own.”

“A brother lost to him. You share strong bond.”

Nasir sensed more to that statement than Faizan voiced. “He holds my heart.”

Faizan’s eyes narrowed while he gazed in Agron’s direction. “You are his boy?” he asked once he faced Nasir again.

Coming from his brother or not, that still irritated him. “We stand as equals. I do not know how it is in Syria but he would not degrade me.” Not as he had been before.

“Apologies,” Faizan said though his displeasure remained.

“I will not be parted from him.”

“As long as he brings you happiness.”

Nasir hoped that at some point he would come to mean that. “What of you?”

“I have a wife.” Faizan smiled, either at the shift in conversation or at the memory of her. “We have three daughters and a son. You may see them when you return to Syria.”

Nasir looked away. His eyes found Agron. His lover had been distracted it seemed, with a circle of his friends gathered around him and Gebhard close beside him, touching his shoulder and leaning into him as he laughed.

“Agron would not so soon leave his kin, nor would I ask it of him.”

“He need not come,” Faizan said in spite of Nasir’s earlier statement. “I will return you to him.”

“Apologies, separation has brought grievous injury in past. I would not see it repeated.” Though a small part of Nasir, one he tried to crush, wondered if it mattered as much now.

 

Night was falling. Faizan had reluctantly parted from him and now Nasir sought his lover. Gebhard found him first.

“He is in outskirts of village,” he said before Nasir could ask. “His father is buried there.”

Nasir nodded. But he did not move to find Agron right away.

“You have different question of me?” Gebhard asked. “I see your eyes upon me.”

“I do not believe it question I need ask,” Nasir said shortly.

“He has not been my lover since before his capture.”

If that was supposed to give Nasir comfort, he found none in it. Not given the way Gebhard acted around Agron. Now he appreciated the position Agron had been in when Nasir had found friendship and company in Castus.

“Yet feelings for him remain unchanged,” Nasir noted.

Gebhard laughed but it was more from nervousness. “It brings joy to see him alive. You need not worry or hold jealousy. I see how he looks at you. Gratitude for bringing him such happiness.” He gestured in the direction Agron was. “I will leave you to break words with him.”

Gebhard had not given a direct response to him but then Nasir didn’t need one. They parted but Agron came within sight before he could walk very far. He looked over Nasir, evidently seeing Gebhard walk away.

“You are in a mood,” he commented as he stepped within reach of Nasir and grabbed his chin as best as he could. “I thought you would take note of him. You’re a fucking perceptive little man.”

That was true. Nasir saw how red Agron’s eyes were. But he wasn’t going to call attention to it. “We broke words.”

Agron tilted Nasir’s head and bent down to kiss him. “There are none he can give that should hold concern. I never gave him my heart. You as ever hold it.”

“As you hold mine. Agron--”

Agron smiled and pressed his face to Nasir’s hair. “I can take you to a proper bed,” he said when he pulled away. “My own.”

Nasir let Agron take him. He answered his questions as well, telling him of his brother. As time went on he felt the tension ripple ever stronger from his lover.

“Tomorrow I will have chance to break words with him,” Agron said of Nasir’s brother.

“He does not appreciate our bond. He believes me your boy.”

His lover frowned. “I shall convince him otherwise.”

Nasir waited for Agron to tease him. He didn’t. But that was fine. Agron had reunited with many but had lost his father and Duro’s absence was a wound that had reopened.

“If you wish to speak of--”

Agron shook his head and Nasir fell silent.

Once they reached their bed, Agron held him tighter than he had since the night after their last battle.

 

Agron waved off his friends in favor of spending time with Nasir and his brother. Faizan, for his part, had separated from his friends and fellow traders. They traded stories but the more Faizan spoke of Syria the more of a disconnect Nasir felt. He thought it might seem natural or that he would feel a pull towards it, but the life he could not remember only seemed strange. What interested him was hearing about Faizan’s wife and his children-- Nasir’s nephew and nieces, whom he had never met.

Agron grew restless beside him. His gaze turned more and more often to his friends.

Nasir looked at him. “You do not need stay.”

“I don’t fucking mind.”

Nasir nuzzled his neck. “Be with your kinsmen.”

Agron stole a kiss from him before nodding to Faizan. “We will break more words.”

“We will,” Faizan agreed.

Nasir continued to smile at Agron as he left but after a while it faded. “Has mind changed in his regard?” he asked his brother.

“Yes, but his family is not your own. We would welcome you,” Faizan said.

Nasir shook his head. “You would take an escaped slave with you, close to Rome.”

“Beyond its grasp. You can work by my side. Protection is needed on path from Syria. We visit lands east of the Rhine often. You may yet see Agron again.”

Agron laughed with his friends before disappearing from sight. Nasir didn’t begrudge him his reunions. But it seemed they now shared a separate life. How far apart would they be after months? Or worse, years. Agron had his family and friends again. Nasir knew he could not part from them.

And he knew that he wanted to see the family Faizan spoke of.

“Choice presented proves difficult.”

“I stay for few days longer.” Faizan grasped his shoulder. “Consider it in mind.”

“Apologies, answer is same as before.” But his voice was far less certain.

 

Nasir did not have a private moment with Agron for the rest of the day. Even when Faizan had gone to attend to more of his business, Agron had brought him to meet his friends. They had almost as many questions as Faizan. The more they talked, the more Nasir understood. But his attention was primarily focused on Agron. Usually he smiled and while it seemed to come easily, Nasir could tell he ached.

He couldn’t mention it or Faizan’s offer. As soon as they stepped inside his home there were too many others there. Some of their friends had found a temporary place in their house. Not that it discouraged Agron from guiding Nasir down onto the bed and kissing his throat.

“Agron,” Nasir glanced at their friends who were--

Actually they were going about their business. This was commonplace for them. But Nasir had had enough of public spectacles in his life.

“Tomorrow,” he said.

“Tomorrow,” Agron agreed. But he didn’t stop kissing him, even when Nasir lay on his side. Agron’s lips were on the back of his neck.

 

When the next day came, they separated early. Faizan had more or less pulled Nasir away while Agron’s friends did the same to him. This time, Nasir was more practical and helped in negotiating so they could have more supplies for the people he’d brought here.

“You have a mind for this.” Faizan smiled at him.

“I have spent time in market and with warriors difficult to reason.”

“Do you speak of warriors or Agron?” Faizan teased.

Nasir laughed in response. “He is yet both. If I admit to truth of words do not tell him of it.”

“I would not cause trouble between you.” Faizan took one of the coats Nasir had traded for and placed it around his shoulders.

“Faizan, it is not--”

“You share my blood. I know you are unsuited for this land.”

“I am well suited.” Nasir fought back the instinctive bristling the comment provoked.

“I did not mean you must leave it. Only that cold’s bite cuts deeper for us.”

“I have survived worse.” Nasir’s mind went back to Melia Ridge. Agron had provided enough warmth for him then.

“I know.” Faizan’s gaze shifted to just beyond Nasir. “Agron comes, have you extended my offer?”

“No,” Nasir said hurriedly before Agron moved within reach. As soon as he did, he got his arms around Nasir’s shoulders and pulled him back against him.

“What offer?” Agron asked.

Nasir closed his eyes for a moment. He knew it would be too much to ask that Agron didn’t hear that. “Faizan has asked if I desire to return to Syria with him.”

Agron stilled in response. “A fair distance to travel.” He let go of Nasir.

Nasir laid his hand on Agron’s arm before he could move too far away. “I would not set foot to path absent you.”

Agron stared down at him, He started to speak but then he kissed Nasir’s forehead instead. “Meal will be ready soon. Faizan, would you join us?”

“With pleasure.”

Agron stepped away from Nasir without saying anything further.

Nasir glanced at his brother. “Apologies,” he said and followed his lover. He quickly caught up to him. “Agron, I will not be from your side.”

Agron stopped and turned to face him. “Do you wish to see Syria?”

“My place is with you.”

“That is not fucking answer.” Agron’s voice held no anger but it was firm.

“Desire is only to see family.” Nasir kept calm in spite of where this was going.

“I would not see you from them.”

“As I would not see you from yours,” Nasir said. “Nor would I leave you. My choice is ever to be with you.”

Nasir braced himself, waiting for an argument. Agron had pushed him away once already. Instead of doing that again, Agron brought him closer. His hand went to the back of Nasir’s head and he leaned down to kiss him. Nasir looped his arms around him, and pressed as close as he could.

“As I would not be from you,” Agron said. “If you choose to leave, I will be with you.”

“You have friends.” Nasir’s thoughts went to Gebhard in particular.

“Of no fucking meaning without you.”

Agron kissed him again, with an insistence that made Nasir forget all his doubts. He nearly melted into his arms. After some time, Agron guided him back to their home. But he didn’t stop until they were on their bed. He pulled Nasir onto his lap and kissed his throat before his hands went to remove his clothes. Alone, Nasir had neither reason nor desire to resist and he clung to his lover throughout. Once they had finished, Agron inside of him and later Nasir taken within Agron’s mouth, they didn’t move until Alda called for them.

 

Night gave way to morning. Seated on their bed, Nasir tied his hair back. Before, Agron would have done this. He’d comb his fingers through Nasir’s hair, tie it back, and help strap his armor before Nasir would see to him. But neither of them had to worry about their armor now and fortunately Agron no longer needed help dressing himself at the start of the day.

“When does your brother leave?” Agron asked.

Nasir looked over at him. “Within the hour.”

“There is yet time to change mind. I would go with you. If I had my brother…” He trailed off.

Nasir stared at him, still in awe that he would willingly leave his mother, kinsmen, and even a former lover that Nasir had been jealous of. Wrongly, he could see now. And he would do it all because he knew what finding Nasir’s family meant.

Nasir touched Agron’s cheek. “A brother I will see again. You have mother and friends. What would you find in Syria?”

“Your family.” Agron pressed his forehead to Nasir’s.

Nasir had dreamed of it last night. The land he could barely remember but somehow the smells had come to mind as well as the brightness of the sun causing him to sweat. He’d run through the streets until his brother caught him and dragged him home. But the rest had not been memories. He pictured children, three girls and a young boy, still held in his mother’s arms. He dreamed of walking alongside his brother with a sword in hand, guarding him as Faizan had once protected him.

But he knew that Agron would not be happy without his mother and the people he had reunited with for only a handful of days.

“When next he visits,” he spoke. “If you are still of mind.”

Agron didn’t raise the subject again, not even when they left to see Faizan off. Seeing that there were still some preparations to be made, Nasir lent a hand. He noted how Agron held back, flexing his hands, trying to close them into fists but never managing.

“Gratitude,” Faizan said once they were done. “Heart is eased to know you live. When next we meet I expect tales to lift it higher.”

“As I expect them from you. Send greetings to family not met and the love I bear for them.”

“I will tell them of a brother held close to heart.” Faizan’s lower lip trembled, not unlike the way Nasir’s would when holding back tears.

They embraced. Faizan clasped Agron’s arm and with one final smile in Nasir’s direction, he left along with the others who accompanied him. Nasir watched even as his brother’s form faded from view.

“Fucking Romans,” Agron muttered under his breath. Then he spoke louder. “There will be another reunion.”

Nasir understood his sentiment. If it were not for the Romans, he never would have been parted from his brother. Nor would Agron have. And yet then they wouldn’t have met. Perhaps Agron would have been happier without him. He might have found comfort in Gebhard or another man. But Nasir couldn’t imagine another life, not without feeling empty.

And yet, staring after his brother, he still felt himself ache.

 

Without his brother to distract, Nasir spent more time with Agron and his friends. He still gravitated towards those he knew but his lover was seldom far from his side. The longer they stayed, the more he saw Agron’s spirits dampen. It worsened in the spring, when there weren’t only animals to tend but crops as well. Agron had only imagined blood for himself, covering body and blade. He couldn’t stand guard now. He couldn’t fight as his friends readied themselves to do. There was little else for him.

Nasir didn’t know how to help. He soothed Agron at night. He stayed by his side when he could, even after friends had left him-- including Gebhard. Jealousy had turned to resentment at that. But harsh words for others did little good. Agron only found use in caring for his mother.

Nasir wondered if they should have gone to Syria after all. But then they would have faced the same problems and in an unfamiliar land.

By the time summer came, Agron took to wandering when Nasir was occupied. It didn’t matter how many times Nasir or his mother lectured him. In time, he simply let him wander. If that was what he desired, if that was what made it easier, then Nasir would not deny him.

But he wasn’t going to leave him be after dark. He began to walk down the path out of the village when he saw someone-- no, more than a single man, approach. A wagon trundled along behind them. He sped up, hoping to see one specific face among them, but as he approached he didn’t see a company of strangers but a family, headed by Faizan and joined by Agron, who supported a young girl in his arms.

Nasir grinned when he came close. He could see the family resemblance, not only between Faizan and his daughter, but between her and himself.

“I’ve brought your family,” Agron announced cheerfully.

The girl had to be five, making her the youngest of them. She spoke in a language that Nasir had only started to learn from Faizan. Faizan replied on Nasir’s behalf. She squirmed in Agron’s arms and he set her down a moment later. As soon as she was on the ground she ran to Nasir with an impressive speed for someone with such short legs.

Nasir scooped her up. “Welcome, niece,” he said in what he hoped was passable Syrian. Then he looked at Faizan. “Why risk journey with them?”

“Word spreads that Rome seeks to press advantage while our empire weakens.” Faizan walked to him and embraced him as best he could while Nasir held the girl.

“I gave word that they could remain with us,” Agron said.

Nasir’s grin widened when he saw his sister in law emerge with two older girls and a two year old in her arms. Her belly was swollen with yet another baby.

His niece started to writhe in his arms and Nasir let her down. As soon as she did she started to run off. Agron caught up to her and picked her up again, carrying the child back while she giggled.

Looking at them and the way Agron had brightened around the children, Nasir suspected his lover had found his new purpose. Just as Nasir had finally found his family.


End file.
